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The permanent ban on warehousing concerns tainted products and counterfeit or pirated goods or those bearing false indications of origin, as well as goods whose release for home use or export is totally banned for reasons of health, safety, good order and morals, protection of the environment, national treasures and intellectual property, and consumer protection.

Since July 2005, a WAEMU regulation has prohibited the import and production of ozone depleting substances on WAEMU territory. [45] Such substances may, however, be imported with an authorization from the Minister responsible for trade in the country of final destination, subject to a favourable opinion from the Minister responsible for the environment. The determination of the related quotas and their allocation to importers are the responsibility of member States. This regulation is not, however, applied by all member States. The community framework further provides for the registration of importers and distributors of ozone depleting substances by national offices, as well as the establishment of a community ozone committee (CCO), responsible for ensuring the implementation of the Montreal Protocol on these substances, but whose creation is taking time.

[45] Regulation No. 04/2005/CM/UEMOA. It concerns in particular chlorofluorocarbons and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (CFCs and HCFCs) and methyl bromide, which deplete the ozone layer and are a contributory factor in climate change.

The numerous export taxes levied by member States (Table 3.11) have not been harmonized at community level (see Annexes by country). The aim is usually to maximize tax revenue, ensure food security (in the case of food crops such as cereals), protect and develop local industry (cotton), or protect the environment (for example, forestry resources). No complaint against these practices has been submitted to the WTO. In many cases, these taxes lessen the products' competitiveness on international markets.

Table 3.11 Principal export taxes in WAEMU member States, 2017
MS Type of export tax or levy
(...)
Côte d'Ivoire Timber and some ligneous products: 1%, 2%, 3%, 10%, 15% or 49% depending on the species
(...)

(...) All member States have individually acceded to the CITES Convention (section 3.3.3).

In 2009, the Commission adopted two texts implementing the Regulation, relating to the sanitary safety of animals, then in 2013 two other implementing texts on coordination and cooperation mechanisms (section 3.3.2.6 below) as part of the implementation of the Union Agricultural Policy (PAU) and with the aim of organizing a strategy at regional level consistent with international requirements, notably with the WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement). Pursuant to the 2007 Regulation, the Commission and member States also undertake to prepare community and national texts based on the standards of the Codex Alimentarius, the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and those established under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.

In addition, this community framework calls on member States to ratify the pertinent major international conventions, to base their national regulations on the latters' provisions, and to harmonize approval terms and criteria, including those on labelling, packaging and storage of approved pesticides. Five lists have to be drawn up for this purpose: approved pesticides or those with a provisional sales authorization; banned pesticides; pesticides whose toxicity is monitored; those "strictly regulated"; and those deemed to be approved in each member State. Member States have also ratified the Rotterdam, Stockholm, Basel and Bamako Conventions (section 3.3.3). In implementing these Conventions, however, member States are mainly constrained by the lack of human, material and financial resources.

The CREVU (WAEMU's Regional Catalogue of Plant Species and Plant Varieties) catalogue provides for the possibility of approving genetically modified varieties (GMOs). Nevertheless, the regulations on agricultural products derived from biotechnology, particularly use of GMOs in human and animal food, have not been harmonized, although community regulations are planned. In some countries, the sale and growing of genetically modified products, as well as the import of GMO derived products, requires authorization from the competent authorities (see Annexes by country). National seed committees have been set up, in Senegal in particular in 1997, in Burkina Faso in 2012, and in Côte d'Ivoire in 2013.

Having adopted measures to harmonize the regulations on protection of the ozone layer in 2005 , WAEMU has had a Common Environmental Improvement Policy (PCAE) since 2008. In addition to provisions on sustainable management of natural resources and addressing environmental issues, the text proclaims the member States' commitment to harmonize and standardize their environmental technical regulations. The PCAE also provides for the implementation of appropriate modes of production, consumption and economic use of natural resources, in particular through the promotion of renewable energy (section 4.2.2). Member States have all ratified the major trade related environmental protection conventions :
• Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants;
• Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade;
• Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal;
• Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Protocol;
• Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and its Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

All WAEMU member States have individually acceded to the Washington Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Niger and Togo have ratified it, and Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire apply the related commitments (see Annexes by country).